In league games it's not too much different you'll be expected to take shorter shifts and quicker movement of the puck. I'll cringe though every time simple plays like chipping the puck out of our end are consistently not made... but if you're fulfilling all the non-skill parts of being a good teammate I'll hit you when I can with a pass (even if you might miss it) and I'll cheer you on when you do make things happen.

Haha yeah you really gotta be patient for this one, I know from experience. When a guy is starting out in a level above him this can be one of the hardest things to do, because making the simple play or not it's still usually a 1 on 1 confrontation between winger and opposing dman. Generally at any decent rec league level the newer guys get shuffled onto the wing and you always have experienced players on defense, so for a 1 on 1 play it's going to be a huge mismatch in ability and experience.

I think it took me about a year before I was able to reliably get the puck out of our zone when it got fired up my side of the boards.